The Universality of Human Rights: Developing Narratives to Help Overcome Polarization

Completed in December 2022

Universality – i.e. the notion that international human rights law (IHRL) protects all individuals worldwide – has been a key IHRL principle since it was enshrined in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. By way of illustration, most – if not all – States have each ratified at least one (international or regional) human rights treaty.

However, in multilateral forums such as the United Nations (UN), States have never ceased challenging this principle – on both normative and political grounds. Such criticism originally consisted of relativism (human rights as a western(ized) conception). Today, certain States now regularly invoke exceptionalism (specific meaning and content of human rights guarantees viewed as being relative to a given situation or context) and particularism (invoking social and cultural norms or traditional values to justify non-compliance with universal human rights guarantees) with increasing fierceness. In other words, what used to be theoretical challenges to the principle of universality of human rights now permeate political dynamics and multilateral negotiations – making it increasingly harder to achieve (or sometimes even maintain) consensus.

Objectives

This research aimed at taking stock of and contributing to a better understanding of the above-mentioned challenges to the principle of universality of human rights while also questioning their validity. The research team notably examined the practice and associated discourse in multilateral forums around the following thematic issues and/or trends:

  • Freedom of expression in the context of digitalization
  • Measures aimed at the protection of minorities and vulnerable groups, and
  • Sexual and reproductive health and rights.

It also paid attention to the following angles: a narrative favouring collective rights (the so-called 3rd generation of human rights) instead of individual rights – while being careful to not simply dismiss the former category; development as a pre-condition for respecting human rights; and the tendency to invoke on State’s sovereignty.

NEWS

News

New Publication Proposes a New Take on Human Rights Universality

28 November 2022

Our new Briefing The Universality of Human Rights: Developing Narratives to Overcome Polarization zooms into the main challenges that the idea of universality faces nowadays and seeks to offer some elements to devise a more consequential and effective narrative of human rights universality to overcome these challenges.

Read more >

OUTPUT

Key Publication Proposes a New Take on Human Rights Universality

The Briefing The Universality of Human Rights: Developing Narratives to Overcome Polarization discusses the idea of universality with a twofold purpose.

On the one hand, the briefing zooms into the main challenges that the idea of universality faces nowadays, offering a typology as well as a detailed analysis thereof – backed by examples taken from the practice of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council and its surrounding institutions. On the other hand, the briefing seeks to offer some elements on which a more consequential and effective narrative of human rights universality can be devised and put into practice – one that overcomes these challenges and is better able to persuade sceptics.

 In discussing the main contemporary challenges to universality, the briefing zooms into six issue areas where the debates are particularly acute: freedom of expression in the context of digitalization, terrorism and other alleged threats to security, climate change, international investment law, development, and minority rights. This zooming provides a basis on which to start thinking about a new take on human rights universality based on the idea of equal human dignity.

The briefing also addresses the critiques of critical and third-world scholars on human rights universality – critiques which need to be addressed in order to avoid repeating hegemonical practices of the past and discusses the main challenges to human rights universality that are visible in the current practice of the UN human rights system and groups them into three main categories:

  • The contestation of the limits of human rights through the means of restriction and derogation is often used to impair their application to certain persons or groups. This is particularly visible in the current debates on freedom of expression in the context of digitalization and terrorism.
  • The exclusion of human rights altogether from the discussion of certain issues, usually through technical expertise or legalistic arguments. This has historically been the case, for example, with regard to climate change and international investment law.
  • Relativism, or the idea that the values underlying human rights are dependent on the specific cultural, social and local political contexts of each human community. This provides a cover for unjustifiable human rights violations and makes any possibility of accountability and oversight impossible. Instances of relativism are present in the global debates on development and minority rights.

Three Human Rights Conversations

During the course of the project, three Human Rights Conversations discussed the issue of universality in relation to digitalization, third-world approaches to international law (TWAIL), and minority issues.

Publications

Cover of the publication

Briefing N° 20: The Universality of Human Rights

August 2022

Pedro José Martinez Esponda

The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Download >

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

News

New Geneva Academy Podcast Series on Contemporary Issues Related to War(s)

14 October 2022

In and Around War(s) is a new podcast series of the Geneva Academy on contemporary legal issues related to wars.

Read more

Panel at the 2022 Annual Conference of the Geneva Human Rights Platrform News

GHRP Annual Conference Tackles Digitalization and Human Rights

15 November 2022

The 2022 Annual Conference of the Geneva Human Rights Platform addressed the issue of digital connectivity in the field of human rights via an expert meeting in the morning and a public discussion in the afternoon.

Read more

Portrait of Magistrate Roberto Vidal Event

Taking Stock of Five Years of Work at the Special Jurisdiction for Peace: Challenges and Achievements

31 March 2023, 18:30-20:00

In this discussion co-organized with the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the UN in Geneva, the President of Colombia's Special Jurisdiction for Peace Magistrate Roberto Vidal will discuss the challenges and achievements of this body.

Read more

Garment workersto receive food from their factory during lunch time. This food is freely provided by their factory in order to ensure that workers eat healthy and hygienic food. Training

Business and Human Rights

4-8 September 2023

This training course will focus on the most efficient human rights mechanisms – at national and international levels – to promote and protect human rights in the private sector and address corporations’ human rights abuses.

Read more

A general view of participants during of the 33nd ordinary session of the Human Rights Council. Training

The Universal Periodic Review and the UN Human Rights System: Raising the Bar on Accountability

13-17 November 2023

This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.

Read more

Futuristic Robot Arm Interacting with Screen Project

Disruptive Technologies and Rights-Based Resilience

Completed in July 2021

This project facilitated a multistakeholder consultative process to identify knowledge gaps, generate new evidence and co-design evidence-based tools to support regulatory and policy responses to human rights challenges linked to digital technologies.

Read more

Flyer presenting the Geneva Human Rights Platform with other publications of the Geneva Academy on display Project

GHRP Briefings

Started in January 2019

The GHRP Briefings provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to discuss the results of the United Nations (UN) Treaty Body (TB) 2020 Review and practical ways to implement change.

Read more

Cover of the publication Publication

The Emergence of Digital Human Rights Tracking Tools and Databases

published on March 2023

Domenico Zipoli

Read more